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-B.' P. SHERMAN. Means for Promoting Combustion.

No. 226,120 Patented MarQSO, I880.

Cam waxed 527mm jails I WITNESfiES: I q )9 v I v H UNITED STATESBENJAMIN F. SHERMAN, OF BALLSTON SPA, NEW YORK.

MEANS FOR PROMOTING COMBUSTION.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 226,120, dated Marchso, 1880.

Application filed January 6, 1880.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, BENJAMIN F. SHERMAN, ofBallston Spa, in the county of Saratoga and State of New York, haveinvented an Improved Means for Promoting Combustion, of which thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, inwhich- Figure l is a vertical transverse, and Fig. 2 a verticallongitudinal, section of a furnace embodying my improvements.

It is well known that the cause of smoke is that the fresh air, enteringthe incandescent coal from below through the grate, has often all itsoxygen consumed before it has passed half-way through the layer of'coal, so that the upper part of the layer cannot burn, but is simplyheated by the underlying incandescent coal, while the products of thecombustion of the lowerlayer of burning coal pass through the upperheated and not-burnin g layer, and carry with them the combustible gasesevolved by the heat, but which cannot take fire for the want of freeoxygen. In order to furnish these combustible gases ascending throughthe upper layerof coal with thenecessa-ryoxygen to burn, I introduceairin the furnace with adownward injection upon the fire by avertically-adjustable arrangement of pipes, which may be placed close tothe coals or farther from them, according to the requirement of thecase, as hereinafter described.

In the drawings, F F F F are a series of parallel longitudinal pipesconnected at their ends by cross-pipes K. These pipes have perforationsin the top, out of which a blast of air will issue when it is driven inby the communicating vertical pipes and flexible tube H E, Fig. l, whichpass upward either at the side or back of the grate G G. Over thesepipes are cast iron hoods E E E E. The upper sides of these hoods arecylindrical, but their under sides have longitudinal V-shaped grooves inthem, in which the pipes F F are fitted and fixed at a distance of abouta half an inch from the surface of said hoods. The air blowing upwardthrough the holes in the upper part of the pipes strikes the angles inthe hoods and is deflected downward on both sides on the surface of thecoal, thus furnishing the smoke and combustible gases ascending throughthem with oxygen enough to secure their perfect combustion, while theheating of this air in the pipes, which become necessarily hot, willincrease the heat of the flame ascending between the hoods, while at thesame time this continued blast of cold air through the pipes will keeptheir temperature down below the point at which they might sufferdamage.

In order to feed the furnace with fuel, the whole system of pipes andhoods is raised to the position indicated by the dotted lines in bothfigures, and marked E E. This is accomplished by a crank under thefurnace-door turning on two cog-wheels, B B, Fig. 1, acting on racks orteeth in the two vertical bars D D, one placed in front and one behindthe grate, and passing through proper channels in the wall beyond thereach of the fire. This permits fuel to be charged into thefurnacewithout interfering with said air-pipes, and yet by the adjustment ofthe latter the blast of air is carried down so close to the coalthatitis utilized in combustion instead of being simply rarefied andrepelled.

It is evident that the raising and lowering of the apparatus might alsobe done by suspendin g it by chains and acting upon those from above bywinding them on drums; but I prefer the arrangement described, as foundmore satisfactory in practice.

As this blowing of air over and on the top of the fuel mightinterferewith the upward draft from the ash-pit, I introduce also a blast there,and take for this purpose some of the air and gases passing upwardthrough the chimney, so that I have two blasts, one of hot air and gascollected from the chimney and blown in under the grate, and one ofentirely fresh and hot air blown in on top of the coal through myapparatus, as described.

Instead of introducing the air through a and yet be raised out of theway when fresh fuel is to be put on. The peculiar arrangement of thepipes with respect to the hoods above them also secures the distributionof air in sheets upon the fire, allows the heat to radiate between themto strike the boiler, and causes the ascending blasts of gases to bepinched or contracted as they rise between the hoods, and burned under apressure that entirely consumes the smoke.

What I claim as new is 1. The combination, with a furnace-grate, of aset of air-pipes, F F, having discharge-orifices, and a correspondingsetof separate over- BENJAMIN F. SHERMAN.

Witnesses:

SAML. F. DAY, EDWARD G. HAWKES.

